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Welcome to Authortrek, the home
of author profiles and interviews, reading guides and reviews. Here at
Authortrek, we endeavour to walk in the footsteps of authors, and to search for
new literary talent.
We
are now selling short stories online as digital downloads:
Remember is a chillingly classic
short story from a superb writer. Miranda Dickinson
was a semi-finalist in the 2007 UK Songwriting competition, and has also previously
worked as a copywriter to a major political party, so she is obviously an
outstanding wordsmith. Remember
is an excellent short story, which aptly exhibits Miranda Dickinson’s fantastic
narrative skills. The story also has
great emotional depths, as well as being supremely spooky. I can foresee Remember, like the
great Victorian ghost stories, living on for many years to come… You can
read an extract from the story here. Read our
Miranda Dickinson interview.
You
can download the story from the button below for 50p. PayPal provides secure payment via your debit/credit card. The
story is a 0.1MB pdf file.
Isolation - This is an excellent
short story from Christopher
Neilan, who’s previously worked for the producers of Peep Show and The
Office. Our protagonist is Andrew,
a poet who is going out with Lizzie, the lead singer in a punk band. Lizzie’s not exactly the brightest card in
the pack, her brain cells so fried by ecstasy that she struggles to recall who
Tom Waits is (not that she ever really knew in the first place). Despite this, success seems to fall into
Lizzie’s lap, while Andrew struggles with his art, seemingly dismayed by all
the things around him, including Lizzie.
This is a dark voyage into Andrew’s isolation, which is buoyed by some
great humour, and features a cameo by Pete Shelley from The Buzzcocks. Isolation is a great story – here’s
hoping that Christopher Neilan’s unpublished first novel, Abattoir Jack,
doesn’t remain unpublished for long, as he’s the greatest writer to have been
undone by a sketch featuring a man French kissing a cat! You can read
an extract from the story here.
You
can download the story from the button below for 50p. PayPal provides secure payment via your debit/credit card. The
story is a 0.09MB pdf file.
Dishabille is a dark, subtle short
story from Irish writer Derbhile Dromey,
who paints vivid pictures with very few words.
Anna, an ageing professional, settles in for an evening of special
entertainment, far from casually dressed, while the truck driver across the road
keeps to his distinct routine. Passion
flares, and dreams are shattered… Dishabille
is a haunting story that will stay with the reader for a long time. You can read an extract
from the story here.
You
can download the story from the button below for 50p (approx. 0.64 Euros). PayPal provides secure payment via your
debit/credit card. The story is a 0.04MB pdf file.
Thunder
and Lightning
by Keith G.
Laufenberg. When I set up the submission guidelines for this series of
short stories, I wrote that the submitted stories could be of any genre – “even
Westerns!” Yet, as you can probably
guess from the exclamation mark, I never really expected anyone to send in a Western,
as they seem to have fallen out of fashion since the 70s. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when
Keith G. Laufenberg submitted Thunder and Lightning. It’s a wonderful
and very spiritual story, which explicitly conveys the extremely different cultures
of the Native Americans and the US army during the Indian Wars in the 1870s,
particularly with regards to how they treated horses… You can read
an extract from the story here.
You
can download the story from the button below for 50p (approx. 1 US
dollar). PayPal provides secure payment
via your debit/credit card. The story is a 0.1MB pdf file.
Ashraf’s
Tale by Fran Tracey. Here’s
another excellent story by the author of the best-selling Authortrek short
story so far – Hiding in
the Dark. Ashraf’s Tale
follows the varying thoughts and emotions of a group of Afghani men, who have
fled the Taliban to seek a new life in the UK.
The least of the dangers they face is that they are travelling
illegally… Authortrek reader Fleur Sandler writes that Ashraf’s Tale is
a “gripping insight into an unknown world, within a challenging and
controversial subject. Fran
demonstrates her ability to reveal complex and intriguing characters and their
private worlds with concise accuracy yet again”. You can read an extract
of the story here.
You
can download the story from the button below for 50p. PayPal provides secure payment via your debit/credit card. The
story is a 0.08MB pdf file.
Australian
Luke Romyn is the
eighth author that we have published in our series of short stories. The Choice is a splendid and very
satisfying short story. Mark Wallace
has been in torment for three years following the death of his lover,
Natalie. So bound up is he in his own
misery, that Mark attempts suicide…
Only for the mercurial Quentin to intervene… What must Mark do to find
redemption? And is Quentin a saint or
devil? The Choice has a great
plot; combined with a natural narrative progression, it has more than enough
hooks to keep any reader satisfied. You can read an
extract of the story here.
You
can download the story from the button below for 50p (approx. 1 Australian
dollar). PayPal provides secure payment
via your debit/credit card. The story is a 0.05MB pdf file.
Joseph Miles is the
seventh author that we have published in our series of short stories. Jungle Rains is based on a couple of
true stories: a chimpanzee attack in Sierra Leone, and an alligator attack on a
dog in Florida. Our hero has moved to
New York City, in search of the solitude he requires to continue his work on
his book of virtues. His world is
turned upside down when his apartment is broken into, and he is forced to call
upon his landlord, SC, to repair his broken window. SC has an extreme vision of the future, which disrupts the
thought processes of our hero. Until, that is, it becomes true… Jungle Rains is a very stimulating,
and philosophical short story, that also abounds in a subtle humour, which
makes it a great addition to this series of online stories. You can read an extract
from the story here.
You
can download the story from the button below for 50p (approx. 1 US dollar). PayPal provides secure payment via your
debit/credit card. The story is a 0.13MB pdf file.
Nick Bitzas is the
sixth author that we have published in our series of short stories. As Nick Bitzas writes, Henry “is a
dark psychological comedy told in vignettes consisting of dialogue”. It’s an experimental piece, but one that I
think you will find very rewarding.
Nick Bitzas does very well to pull off this novel way of writing over 30
pages. The protagonist, Henry, is very
much an anti-hero, but you can’t help but be stimulated by the crazy world in
which he lives. Although Nick Bitzas
uses only dialogue, his excellent characterisation skills superbly draw the
characters that make up Henry’s world, such as his best friend Jeffrey, who
wants to write a dictionary that explains what people really mean when
they talk with each other, and Henry’s possessive mother, who needs someone to
be the man of their house, now that Henry’s father has passed away. Henry is a story that forces the
reader to become fully engaged, as the reader does have to do some work to
follow this challenging but rewarding narrative. And, as Nick Bitzas splendidly proves, it’s no bad thing to defy
conventions from time to time. You can read an
extract from the story here.
You
can download the story from lulu.com for 50p (approx. 1 Canadian dollar). The story is a 0.205MB pdf:
http://www.lulu.com/content/4422422
Breda Nathan is the
fifth author that we have published in our series of short stories – The
Retro Feminists is also the first story that can be downloaded directly
from Authortrek.com. After successfully
rearing two sons, Mary decides to attend ‘Assertiveness for Women’ classes, as
she bids to return to work, much to the dismay of her mother and husband. Her friend Laura, who has 2 tickets for an
upcoming Germaine Greer lecture, also leads Mary astray. Mary watches on with amazement as her
newfound friends lurch back into 70’s feminism… The Retro Feminists is a hilarious short story from the
awarding-winning Irish writer Breda Nathan.
It’s no surprise that Breda won the Cork Theatre Writer’s Award last year,
as her narrative voice is superb. You
are really there with Mary as she finds that there are some things more painful
than “sitting on one buttock for twenty years”! You
can read an extract from the story here.
You
can download the story from lulu.com for 50p (approx. 0.64 EUR). The story is approximately 0.07MB:
http://www.lulu.com/content/4421739
Steve Wheeler
is the fourth author that we have published in our series of short stories – runnin’
with dexedrine can be downloaded from lulu.com for 50p:
http://www.lulu.com/content/2544270
This
is an excellent, hardboiled story from Canadian author Steve Wheeler. Jimmy
McFarlane, an ex-con, gets more than he bargained for when he drives a rig full
of illegal beer down to Florida, as he encounters an unwelcome stowaway… It
does not help that it is Harley Week in Daytona, as there are loads of Hells
Angels around…
Shermaine
Williams was the third author that we published – Sense of Achievement
can be downloaded from Lulu.com for 50p: http://www.lulu.com/content/2435806
I recently visited the creative writing section of
Gumtree.com, to see if there were any writers suitable for inclusion in this
series of new short stories online.
Almost immediately, I saw an advert by Shermaine Williams for her
writing. I followed the link and was
most impressed by what I read. I was
not surprised to discover that she had already had a couple of short stories
professionally published. Shermaine Williams is such a tremendous storyteller,
that I had to invite her to contribute.
Sense of
Achievement is a great
story that really delighted me - it even had me laughing for joy in
places. The plot, the pace, and the
characterisation are perfect. It is exactly the kind of story that I was hoping
to find and publish. She first began selling stories to her family as a child,
and while it is incredibly difficult for any author to make a living solely
from writing, I believe that Shermaine Williams is so talented, that she may
one day achieve her dream of doing this.
Download Sense of Achievement
(50p)
Fran Tracey was the
second author that we published in our new series of short stories - Hiding
in the Dark is now available from Lulu.com for 50p on the following link: http://www.lulu.com/content/2383879
Fran
Tracey is exactly the kind of writer that I want to encourage by publishing
this series of online short stories.
She’s already had success in short story competitions elsewhere, and I
know from previous experience that such a great track record can lead to a
professional publishing contract.
Despite her previous success, Fran is very open to listening to
constructive criticism of her work, and this makes her a delight for any editor
to work with, and this is perhaps why she is so successful. I am certain that Hiding in the Dark
will chime with many readers, as unfortunately, I am sure that many of us have
had to suffer one very bad teacher from our schooldays… Buy Hiding in the Dark from Lulu.com
(50p)
You
will need Adobe Reader to view this story, which you can download for free
from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
The
first title in this series is Terrible Beauty by the novelist Siobhan Curham. You can buy this short story from www.lulu.com for 50p:
This is an exquisite and subtle short story by the
novelist Siobhan Curham. It’s ideal to kick off Authortrek.com’s new series of
short stories, because it’s a fun and very humane tale. Terrible Beauty
does deal with a very serious issue, yet Siobhan Curham’s treatment never
becomes ‘preachy’, because her imperative is always to entertain us, rather
than to lead us off on a moral crusade. Furthermore, its fantastical premise
could never really work anywhere outside of the medium of the short story. Terrible
Beauty’s a slight tale, stretching only to 3 pages, but boy! Those 3 pages
are full of drama! And although the tone is light, Terrible Beauty does
work on several different levels, and so deserves several re-readings. Siobhan
Curham is so excellent at characterisation that you really get to empathise
with the character of Ray ‘The Geezer’ George, who’s not quite the man he used
to be… Buy Terrible Beauty from
lulu.com (50p)
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